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Journal article

Can philosophy be an academic discipline?

BHAP-PH

  • 22.01.2023
Published in:
  • Metaphilosophy. - Wiley. - 2023
Philosophy
Academic discipline
Mind
Richard Rorty
Wilfrid Sellars
Uniquely philosophical problems
Philosophie
Discipline académique
Esprit
Richard Rorty
Wilfrid Sellars
Problèmes purement philosophiques
English Richard Rorty notoriously maintained that philosophy is not an academic discipline. He thought that the only viable candidate for philosophy to be an academic discipline—where philosophy consists in a collection of permanent, pure topics—depends on a Cartesian conceptual framework. Once we overcome this framework, he maintained, there will be nothing left to be the distinct subject matter of philosophy. This article argues that there is a conception of philosophy that can be an academic discipline, even if we take Rorty's challenge seriously. It remains even if we overcome the Cartesian conceptual framework. In the end the article goes beyond Rorty's challenge and considers two further criteria for philosophy to be an academic discipline: that it have a distinct method, and that it be able to be done for the public good. The article argues that philosophy can fulfill these two criteria, and therefore that it can be an academic discipline.
Faculty
Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
Department
Département de Philosophie
Language
  • English
Classification
Philosophy, psychology
License
CC BY-NC-ND
Open access status
hybrid
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/323589
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